The Edinburgh festival is underway, the Fringe fantastic and a glorious Thursday. Not so for Friday. As visitors mill about the city and events take place outdoors and in, the Scottish weather is being kind over the next few days.
Thursday 13th
A glorious day today in Edinburgh, warm sunny and up to 21C (70F). It will feel close and humid and by tonight, hopefully after the end of the 9pm Tattoo show, the rain will arrive. This rain will be heavy and thundery with further pulses during Friday. It's all away during Friday evening with a fresher feeling but more settled weekend.
The chart below shows predicted rainfall totals, mainly from Friday morning. What a change from the 20C today and sunshine.
At least the heavy rain will wait till the small hours to begin properly. The Arts Festival starts this weekend, further updates to come.
Tues 10th August - Looking good, and warmer until Friday
There were a few hefty showers about on Monday, but they will have all cleared away over NE Scotland by Tuesday as we head into a settled spell of weather midweek. Then warmth will spill up from the south.
Great news for festival go-ers. And the folk at @Edfests are here to shout about it all. "August's biggest, Edinburgh's biggest, and indeed the whole world's biggest arts festival is on right now- yes, it's the world-famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe!
So big that it needs 313 venues for over 3300 shows and over 50,000 performances, part of enjoying the Fringe is dashing from one venue to the next (and the next and the next...) putting together your very own unique experience.
And of course as you dash from place to place, the weather will be on your mind "
That's where Netweather can help.
Weather this week
It's actually looking dry for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Edinburgh. High pressure, light winds, sunny spells and temperatures rising. Up into the high teens, even 20C (68F) possible. Also dry by night, still cool down to 11 or 10C but clear for the Tattoo fireworks
Things begin to change later this week. Thursday becomes more breezy with rain lurking further south to keep an eye on. Friday looks wet and cool, but we'll have another update here on Thursday.
Tickets
Bookings for the fringe are at https://tickets.edfringe.com/box-office. you can become a friend and get 2 for 1 tickets to some shows. And the Fringe half price hut https://tickets.edfringe.com/box-office/virgin-money-half-price-hut which says it opens on the 12th Aug but I'm sure I've seen twitter talk about it being open already, so I'm off to ask @edfringe
Radar image of Monday's hefty showers. keep an eye on the rain later this week on the Netweather Storm App, or here
Thursday 6th August- A fine start to the Festival
Edinburgh is looking vibrant, colourful and ready for kick off Friday and this weekend. Posters everywhere, not sure about all of those Mr Bill sticker!! More people wandering around in quirky clothes that make you wonder where they are heading and what role they will be stepping into. I walked past a goat on a lead last year, and when I mentioned my surprise on Twitter I got a reply from the show it was in. It's busy and lively and the locals are chuntering that they can't get around quickly, eat or park ANYWHERE, although with a quiet pleasure at the wonderfulness of their city.
Over the next few weeks there will be 6 festivals taking place with thousands of shows and events. We'll take a look at a few highlights each week, from each of the distinct festivals and hopefully bring news of warmth and sunshine for Edinburgh.
The average August temperature in Edinburgh is 19C (66F) by day and still a cool 11C at night. A westerly wind lifts the temperatures nicely in Edinburgh. This week’s rather persistent flow from the Atlantic has benefited Midlothian with a bit of August warmth although it’s nothing above average. Being near to the sea, the city can sometimes become cool and damp in an easterly wind which brings low cloud in off the North Sea.
The Arts festival has already begun, but the Military Tattoo, International and Fringe festivals all begin on Friday 7th and run until the end of August. By day there is going to be a lot of fine, dry and bright weather this weekend. Temperatures of 17 and 18C for Friday and Saturday but a touch cooler into the new week. It does turn more breezy through the weekend with just the odd shower by Monday
The Harmonium Project is a free outdoor event marking the opening of the 2015 Edinburgh International Festival and the 50th anniversary of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus. This event combines technology and art to tell amazing stories, with a series of spectacular animations projected onto the outside of the Usher Hall. Lothian Road will be closed to traffic near to Festival Square and the performance will take about 35 minutes. There is a section on the website FAQs about bad weather but Edinburgh will be fine on Friday night. Light winds, dry and just a bit cool at 13C, no rain. I’m sure the singers will be as pleased as the audience.
The Military Tattoo audience are also quite exposed to the Scottish weather with shows each night bar Sunday and 2 shows on Saturday evenings. Friday is looking fine, Saturday early will be fine and not too cool but a bit blustery. Later in the night, rain is approaching from the west but currently it forecast to not reach Edinburgh until 1am. Let's hope it stays like that, away from the Tattoo fireworks. Monday night also looks dry but blustery and cool
Let’s hope the weather is as well behaved at the end of the festival for the Finale Fireworks on the 31st. Updates each week on Tuesday and Thursdays.
